In 1992 I started writing political columns for Auburn University's Auburn Plainsman newpaper.
The whole column-writing thing came from a road trip with Tyson, who asked me about the issues in the 1992 election. I had my own strong opinions, but Tyson was someone I respected and I didn't want to spin the issues to reflect my own views. So for a few hours he read a list of issues and I tried to explain the positions of each party and the competing goods that were in tension. As we talked I realized that the conversation we were having was a useful one, and wasn't one I ever heard on TV or read in magazines. When I got back to Auburn I pitched the idea to the editor of the campus newspaper (after running it by Katherine who was a journalism major at the time). Thus started a weekly pattern of weekend pondering, Monday panicking, Tuesday scribbling, and Wednesday re-reading.
I cut these out and sent them to Christina, who I was dating at the time. Leftover papers were kept in a closet in the newspaper office. I never bothered to pull extra copies. When Christy and I stopped dating, old newspaper articles were the least of my interests, and given the manner of breakup, I was never inclined to contact her to ask if she happened to have a spare copy of those old columns. So I just forgot about them.
Until last Saturday. Looking through a chiffonier at my parent's house, I found a manilla envelope full of all the old articles. Did I send them home? Did my mom get them some other way? I don't remember, but an old treasure trove was uncovered.
Now, I've uncovered old journals before, and with a few exceptions reading them later is like eating live beetles while sitting naked on an anthill broadcast live on the national news. Or maybe a reality TV show. Nobody watches the news anymore, do they?
But these weren't so bad. Funny how different we write for ourselves versus others. Someone recently suggested the performance is all there is (you know who you are). I'm inclined to think there is something to that.
Anyone else out there ever stumble across something you wrote a decade ago? What did you think?
Maybe I'll post some of them up here later.
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What was that?
3 comments:
awww shucks...
hey wait a minute
Well, a decade ain't what it used to be. And I'm happy about that. When I read something that was ten years old a decade ago (now twenty years old), I was usually (but not always) horrified, embarrassed, or ready to build a fire to warm my hands. Now that I am "in my thirties" (for better or worse) what I wrote ten years ago was written by an "adult." And it is not so bad (sometimes). In any case, I look forward to re-reading some of those. Send them out!!
Oh, okay, now I figured it out. As I was saying, of course I saved all of your columns-I think Ginger sent them to me. I saved everything you ever did-even your toddler scribblings-that's what mothers do....Charlotte
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